• Regulation's induring importance

  Recent events highlight the importance of regulation and enforcement to environmental protection.

• CRC changes welcomed

  Business satisfied with final Carbon Reduction Commitment.

• Hatfield set to win clean coal funding
• UK greenhouse gas stats under fire
• Obituary: ENDS Report founder David Layton
• New planning system to assess energy projects
• WRAP restructures to meet new priorities
• Payment for ecosystem services trialled
• ENDS infographic: Success of forest certification is largely limited to developed countries

Corporate

• Call for 'green bank'

  Bank could help private capital flow to low-carbon industries, says Aldersgate Group.

• Brand emissions leaders and laggards identified
• Recession puts dent in green consumerism
• UK companies fail to curb carbon emissions
• Car scrappage scheme extended to £400m
• Low carbon price hinders responsible investment
• SKM to buy Enviros for £27m
• UK carmakers improve energy efficiency

Energy & carbon

• ‘Step change’ needed to meet UK carbon budgets

  CCC calls on government to double rate of emissions cuts and fix dysfunctional electricity market.

• Energy security could cost £200bn by 2020
• Biomass plant to source sustainably
• Biofuel CHP plants face permitting cost
• Buildings going green in spite of crunch
• Nuclear ‘will require government support’
• List reveals carbon leakage sectors

Pollution & clean-up

• Clean-up halts drinking water pollution

  A £13m clean-up in Cambridgeshire has stopped herbicide further polluting an aquifer.

• New sewage treatment to cut carbon
• SEPA names Scotland’s biggest polluters
• Battle over Glebelands toxic site intensifies
• Little progress in POPs releases
• Public 'does not understand water efficiency'
• Study raises concerns over faecal indicators
• UK faces legal action over sewage overflows

Supply chain

• Domestic LED bulbs hit the market

  The technology promises enormous energy savings but is not expected to be widely used before 2020.

• WWF timber group raises sourcing standards
• Impacts of windows and plasterboard identified
• Call for wider RoHS bans for electronics
• One in six servers unused, study finds
• Government makes progress on green ICT
• Mercedes’ CO₂ ad found misleading

Waste & resources

• Trent cyanide inquiry

  A hazardous waste firm is being investigated after pollution killed thousands of fish.

• Battery schemes rush to sign members
• More transparency over waste costs on the cards
• More 'zero-waste places' announced
• DIY firms pledge to cut packaging
• Plastic bottle recycling hits 39%
• Agency approves ‘WEEE row’ schemes

Science

• Forest schemes need to cover more ground

  Study says the world’s largest forest carbon credit scheme should cover more vulnerable land.

• Study stirs debate on aviation climate impacts
• Nanosilver leaks from fabrics when washed

• NHS struggles to get to grips with waste

  The NHS produces at least 1% of municipal waste, but no one can say how much is recycled, reused or misconsigned.

• How the profit motive could help cleantech soar

  Private equity and venture capital have a critical role in developing low-carbon products and services.

• Pioneering phosphorus-recovery process trialled
• Cleantech investment collapses, then rebounds

National

• Devil in the detail of civil sanctions proposals

  Environmental law enforcement shake-up draws broad support, but concern over some details.

• CRC refined to answer participants’ concerns
• Feed-in tariff plans criticised by all sides
• Wales to reject water competition plans
• Thames Gateway to be ‘water neutral’
• Water and biowaste bodies criticise odour plans
• Doubts remain over London air quality plans
• Government backdown over emissions targets
• Water industry slams ‘short-term’ price limits
• Agency plans fee cuts
• Government sustainability targets to be extended
• Shake-up of ecodesign enforcement announced
• Benn announces review of ecological network
• Strategy for English soils published
• Commercial waste strategy falls short
• Welsh bag tax plan roundly criticised
• Scotland fills PPC energy-efficiency loophole
• Scottish harbour dredging to require EIA
• Waste proposals given short shrift

International

• Copenhagen climate deal ‘still in the balance’

  Greater flexibility could yet produce a climate deal at Copenhagen, but time is running out.

• Senate climate bill aims for 20% emissions cut
• Call for €50bn boost for energy research
• REACH deadline for chemical-using bodies nears
• Voluntary ecodesign agreements under review
• Tyre-labelling regulations agreed
• Call for mandatory nanomaterials reporting
• Shipping bodies back carbon trading
• US to reform national chemicals regulation

• Tom Burke

  This year’s annual party conference speeches revealed the environment's low ranking in electoral priorities.

• Tories outline cuts to regulation and quangos
• MPs call for delay to piecemeal flooding bill
• Lib Dems plan for net resource reduction

• Richard Macrory

  High Court rules on abuse of process and enforcement.

• BVH and its director fined £120,000
• Anaerobic digestion firms fined for permit breaches
• Composter fined for water pollution
• Waste operator hit with £60,000 penalty
• Illegal tyre exports costs company £10,000
• SEPA achieves 100% prosecution record
• Dualit’s packaging offences cost £23,406
• Farmers fined for slurry pollution
• Severn Trent pays out for river pollution
• Man sentenced for illegal skip operation
• Vandalism leads to water pollution fine